Tenge strengthens 4.6% in September as National Bank details market drivers

October 1, 2026 at 11:43 AM2 min

This digest was compiled by AI from multiple sources — links to the originals are below.

The Kazakh tenge strengthened 4.6% in September to 440.49 per dollar, the National Bank reported. Average daily trading volume on KASE rose to $474 million from $415 million, with total turnover reaching $10.4 billion. The central bank sold only $200 million from the National Fund and made no interventions, while buying $986 million for pension assets.

Key Facts

The tenge strengthened 4.6% in September to 440.49 per dollar, according to the National Bank.
Average daily trading volume on KASE rose to $474 million in September from $415 million, with total turnover of $10.4 billion.
The National Bank sold only $200 million from the National Fund in September, representing 1.9% of total exchange turnover.
The National Bank purchased $986 million on the market in September to maintain the foreign currency share of ENPF pension assets.
In Q4 2026, the National Bank plans to sell foreign currency equivalent to about 907 billion tenge under the gold purchase mirroring mechanism.

September Currency Market

The tenge strengthened 4.6% in September to 440.49 per dollar, the National Bank reported. Average daily trading volume on KASE increased to $474 million from $415 million, with total turnover reaching $10.4 billion. Sales from the National Fund amounted to $200 million for the month, or about $9.1 million per day, representing only 1.9% of total exchange turnover. The National Bank had planned to begin mirroring operations with the National Fund in the amount of $200-300 million, but postponed them due to excess supply of foreign currency. No foreign exchange interventions were conducted in September.

National Bank Operations

The National Bank, as investment manager of pension assets, purchased $986 million on the market in September to maintain the foreign currency share of ENPF assets. This amount represented about 9.4% of all currency trading in September. Under the gold purchase mirroring mechanism, approximately 374 billion tenge was sterilized in September. For Q4 2026, the National Bank plans to sell foreign currency equivalent to about 907 billion tenge under this mechanism. The National Bank stated that the principle of market neutrality is observed in operations with National Fund assets and the mirroring mechanism.